I finished reading the Opinion piece by Sohab Ahmari called An S.O.S From Battleground Ukraine and I too have been wondering why the US and NATO have turned their backs on Ukraine. Victor Poroshenko asked for 1,240 US Javelin anti-tank missiles. As noted in the article, that is the exact number of nuclear warheads turned over by Ukraine in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. If Ukraine had kept those nuclear missiles would we see the same level of aggression from Russia? Would Russia really have annexed Crimea? I am thinking they would have given pause to such aggressive behavior. The crystal ball is fuzzy on whether it would have stopped Czar Putin from his trophy, but it would likely have cost him more.

I am glad that the Ukrainian leadership in 1994 realized the issues around nuclear weapons, and surrendered them. The world is a safer place because of it, but Ukraine is not a safer place for it. I have friends and fellow Java leaders who live in Ukraine. I pray for their safety and well being. I just wish the US and NATO would come to their aid. Poking the Russian Bear is not only necessary, but warranted. Let's make Czar Putin consider his calculus more carefully and reverse the direction of the "New Cold War". By making Czar Putin's life more miserable by mounting losses of manpower, and equipment like in Afghanistan, he may be forced to withdraw from Ukraine including Crimea, and leave South Ossetia to the Georgia